Adobe Adds Generative AI to Photoshop, Pulls Up the Ladder with their Ethics Pledge
Ethics pledge could help Adobe maintain their dominance in creative and image software
Adobe introduced a new feature called Generative Fill to Photoshop, which uses generative AI so users can add, remove, and extend visual elements in their images based on simple text prompts
Adobe assures that Generative Fill matches the original scene's perspective, lighting, and style, allowing users to make radical changes to their images with minimal effort.
Adobe is positioning itself ethically in the AI landscape by promising that their AI model learns only from Adobe Stock images and other public domain content free from copyright restrictions.
Their “ethics” position could stifle competition from AI startups, as Adobe's vast library of stock images is a resource that emerging companies can’t match.
Adobe recently announced a new feature, Generative Fill, to Photoshop. This tool harnesses the power of generative AI, transforming the way users work with visual content.
Using the power of Firefly, their creative generative AI engine, Adobe's new feature reimagines photo-editing by letting users add, remove, and extend visual elements in images by using simple text prompts.
Van Goh’s Starry Night painting shows how you can expand the work of masterpieces, but imagine expanding your favorite memes. @StepnEurope imagined that use case, and created a viral tweet thread of our favorite memes expanded beyond their POV.
This, along with Starry Night, are both examples of outpainting, generating AI content beyond your image's borders.
Inpainting is the reverse, generating AI content within your image’s borders. Restoring photos is a great use case for this.
Adobe assures that this feature will seamlessly match your original scene's perspective, lighting, and style. This helps you make radical changes to your images with minimal effort. While there are still bugs, as this is in beta, the images above show what is already possible.
In an era where generative AI blurs the line between organic and algorithmic content, Adobe is differentiating itself with an ethics pledge. They pledge that their current-generation model only learns from Adobe Stock images and other copyright restriction-free public domain content.
Adobe’s Ethical Stance Conveniently Stifles Competition
Adobe's ethical AI stance is not just a noble gesture; it also strategically positions the company in a way that could stifle competition. By pledging that their AI model learns only from Adobe Stock images and other copyright-free public domain content, Adobe is in effect leaning on a unique advantage it possesses as a dominant and well-established company in the creative industry.
Their unique advantage is fine, but what happens if regulations mandate that all generative AI companies follow suit? Adobe boasts an enormous library of stock images, over 314 million images and 26 million videos, which serves as training data for Adobe’s AI.
For AI upstarts, replicating such a database would be prohibitively expensive and time-consuming, not to mention fraught with copyright and licensing issues.
Such high entry barriers play right into Adobe’s hands. Adobe's AI, trained on their extensive stock image library, could outperform start-ups if they are forced to match such a broad and diverse dataset. If Adobe’s ethics approach ignites new regulations, new entrants could be deterred from entering, which would help Adobe maintain their dominance in creative and image software.
Adobe's Generative Fill feature is now available for testing in the Photoshop desktop beta, and is already available on the web as a module in the Firefly beta. The feature will be widely available in the second half of 2023.